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Capt. Will Greer, Brig. Gen.
Michael Greer, Capt. Hays Greer and now Cadet Michael Greer. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save The study of flags, called vexillology, has its own nomenclature.
In 1917, the Blue Star Service Banner was created and introduced in World War I. The most common version of the banner features a single blue star on a white rectangular field with a red border. The single-star banners are displayed to show that a family member is currently serving in the Armed Forces.
The banners began to be hung in homes of those serving during WWI. By World War II, the number of Blue Star Banners "went to stratospheric proportions," according to vexillologist James Ferrigan, of Reno, Nevada. These days, for a mere $8.
99 from the American Legion , families with someone serving in the military can order a small version, 8 inches by 16 inches, of the banners to display their pride and support. The one-star banner wouldn't work for Brig. Gen.
Michael Greer's family. Greer, 55, is the Assistant Adjutant General for the Louisiana National Guard and serves as the principal military advisor to the Adjutant General of the State of Louisiana. He is responsible for assisting in the deployment and coordination of programs, policies and plans for the Louisiana Army and Air National Guard.
Capt. Will Greer at his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Greer's oldest son, Capt.
Will Greer, now 28, graduated from West Point Military Academy in 2018 and is currently serving in an undisclosed location with the U.S. Army.
The American Legion offers Blue Star Service Banners with two stars for families with two members actively serving, but that wouldn't work for the Greer family, either. Middle son Capt. Hays Greer, now 26, graduated from West Point Military Academy in 2020.
He is also serving in an undisclosed location with the U.S. Army.
Fortunately, the Blue Star Service Banners are offered with not only three stars but also four stars — which is a good thing, since the family's youngest son, also named Michael, now 24, is a senior at West Point expecting to graduate in the spring of 2025 and follow in his father and brothers' footsteps to serve in the U.S. Army.
Cadet Michael Greer, Meredith Greer, Capt. Hays Greer and Capt. Will Greer after the Army/Navy football game in December 2021.
"I should probably get a four-star banner," Meredith Hemerick Greer said. She is wife to Brig. Gen.
Michael Greer and mother of the three sons. Strictly speaking, as the family matriarch, she doesn't qualify for a star on the Blue Star Service Banner, but without her support, the men of the family agree that things just wouldn't have worked as well through the years. The younger Michael says that even though he was young, he remembers his dad's deployments and the Skype calls on holidays.
"A lot of credit to our mother as well during all this, I am sure taking care of three young boys is no easy task," the younger Michael said. The fifth star "The real unsung hero of our family is Meredith," the elder Michael said. "I volunteered.
The boys volunteered. She did not." Michael and Meredith met while they were in college.
"We met in May. I went to boot camp in June. We got married a year later," he said.
"So, effectively, she was a single parent with three young boys for years while I was overseas." Through the years, as her husband progressed through the ranks, Meredith took on more and more in terms of volunteering, mentoring other spouses and parenting their sons. Brig.
Gen. Michael Greer in 2005 after his deployment to Afghanistan, with his son, Michael. "I really can't say enough about her contribution to all of this," Michael said of his wife.
Meredith, a nurse practitioner, says the communities around her in all the places the family has lived have helped make life work. Michael and Meredith Greer now live in Jackson Barracks, a military base in New Orleans that was established in 1834. "My parents are my heroes.
Both of our parents worked in professions that serve our community," said their eldest son, Will. "We were brought up around the idea that being a part of something bigger than yourself was the admirable and right thing to do." Looking back, Meredith says that each of their three sons was "all boy" growing up.
Will Greer as a child already working on the physical fitness aspect of becoming a soldier. "There were plenty of fights growing up. Twelve-year-old boys are interesting to me.
I have three younger brothers. Having three boys was the best thing God could have done for me," she said. "We did the best we could raising them.
" Surviving deployments When the elder Michael left on his first deployment, Meredith was home with three young boys. She says at that point, she realized she had a decision to make. "There are two ways you can deal with this.
One is not very intelligent. The other is I have three small boys to raise. That's the route I took.
I had a responsibility to Michael as well," she said. "I've got to maintain this household and make sure they're raised in a responsible manner. We're not going to go off the rails because daddy is gone.
That's what we did — and that's what we did every time." Along the way, instilling responsibility in their sons was important. The boys mowed yards to earn spending money.
They played sports. They went to Sunday School at First Methodist in downtown Baton Rouge. Brig.
Gen. Michael Greer and his son, Capt. Will Greer "I've always had people who were willing to help.
I've made friends over the years whether through the Army or church — even other West Point moms," she said. Will, the family's eldest son, says that he "had a front row seat growing up to how service and sacrifice can place strain on the family unit," especially while his father was deployed in the Middle East or away for training. "Thankfully, we were always surrounded by a community that appreciated his service," Will wrote by email.
His brother, Hays, says that throughout his experiences at West Point and now serving in active duty, the values their parents instilled in them while they were growing up are still the ones he uses. "The ideas of being a contributing member of a team, respecting others and their differences, and doing your best in anything you do are what I have tried to do everyday," he wrote by email. "While I have seen my dad exhibit these traits in military service, these transcend service and were instilled in us as we grew up playing sports, in school or church youth group.
" Brig. Gen. Michael Greer speaks to a Youth Camp in Louisiana.
Geting started Though the Army has become a family business for the Greers, growing up, the elder Michael didn’t really know anyone in the military. "My father had gotten a deferment from Vietnam because he had a broken leg," Michael said. "I started school at Louisiana Tech and didn’t do well in my first year of college.
So, my father asked me how I intended to pay for the next year." He had fraternity brothers who were in the military and was aware of the educational benefits. He ended up enlisting and joining the National Guard, specifically for the educational benefits.
Things progressed from there. "I always took hard assignments and then did the best I could and became kind of a turnaround person," he said. "So, if there was a unit that wasn't doing well, they would have me go to that unit and take whatever time I needed to turn the unit around to get it back on track.
" While serving in Iraq in 2004-2005, he met a fellow soldier who had gone to West Point — and a light bulb went off. Several years later when Will, his oldest son, was in the 8th grade, he began to introduce him to the military service academies. "We told him to make good grades, look for leadership opportunities in school, do athletics and stay out of trouble," Michael said.
"You know, of course, those are the same attributes you would want for any college, anywhere." At that point, the Greers stepped back and let their oldest son begin to research and form his own opinions. Brig.
Gen. Michael Greer speaks to a group of soldiers in June 2024. "Will is the analytical one.
He is a researcher," Meredith said in describing her first born son. The family tradition All three of the Greer sons went to Dutchtown High School in Prairieville. "Whether it was representing the Dutchtown Griffins on the soccer field or cutting the grass, we were going to pursue excellence," Will said.
"Taking pride in whatever you are doing is important. In our house, mistakes were permissible, but accountability was mandatory." Brig.
Gen. Michael Greer, Meredith Greer and their youngest son, Michael, a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Once in high school, Will went to the Naval Academy for two summers and visited West Point his senior year.
When he graduated from high school and landed at West Point, his younger brother Hays was watching. The family went up for the Army-Navy game and visited for other events. "And Hays said, 'Hey, I want to do it also,'" Michael said.
For the youngest son, who is also named Michael, West Point was an automatic. "Michael knew it was in his cards. He wanted to follow his brothers.
By that time, he had seen the experiences that the older two had had in their training and the opp they were receiving," said the young cadet's father. The three Greer sons say they are proud to have followed their father into the military — and that the lessons he taught them growing up have stuck. In particular, Hays says that, from his father, he has learned the importance of being oneself and serving others.
"Always be yourself and care for others. Everyone sees through someone trying to be someone they aren't," he said. "So, just be yourself and take care of the man/woman to your left and right, and they'll do the same.
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